"Today being humanitarian is for the ignorant." Pilar Pardo appropriated this phrase to express how "foolish" she feels for letting a family she thought was in need stay in her house. The story of a woman with cancer, with sick parents, and a son who is a victim of bullying touched her heart. She thought she couldn't leave them on the street with a vacant home. But it was all a deception. Now Pilar, 57, regrets her kindness. She "feels anger towards those she felt compassion for."
In Mos (Pontevedra), she picks up the phone. "Sorry if I'm not very sharp today, I have a fever of 38 degrees," she greets. Since she found out that the family she helped has little vulnerability and much "scamming," the Galician woman says her health has deteriorated. Desperate, she started a hunger strike on February 18. "The truth is that it doesn't cost me because I have anorexia nervosa... Nerves got to my stomach, and I can't eat anything," she confesses to Crónica.
The woman focuses her life on reclaiming her squatted home. She stopped attending her course at a beauty and wellness center, paused her dream of opening an alternative therapy center, and decided to take her fight to the press. She spends most of the day inside her car, parked in front of the house that no longer belongs to her. At night, she also stands guard to watch over her home. She sleeps in the vehicle and only enters her current home—right next to the usurped property—when the unbearable cold worsens her health.
The generosity that backfired on her did not come from her but from her son Javi. In late 2023, the boy interceded for his classmate and his family. "Mom, you have a free house, come on, give them a hand," he asked his mother. Pilar agreed. She, her husband, and her son lived in the house they lent, but they decided to move to make the other family more comfortable. It was supposed to be a matter of a few days, at most a month. "The pain my son feels is impressive. He feels guilty without being guilty," laments the affected woman.
Then, Alejandra, her parents, her husband, and her son, all Spaniards, started to "squat" the more spacious home. They were joined by a dog and a few canaries. The days went by, and they stayed. According to Pilar, on several occasions, she tried to talk to the woman politely to ask them to leave. "And she would say to me, 'oh, yes, yes, just a week, and I'll leave.' The week would pass, a month would pass, and nothing." Alejandra kept stalling and making excuses, appealing to sentimentality. "They told me believable lies... But since January [2025], we know they are professional scammers, they are shameless."
The bills for services skyrocketed. "From the first minute, these people would turn on all the lights in the house... The thing is, we are so foolish that we swallowed all this excess, all the electricity and water expenses." The squatter family treated them as if they were their landlords. "One day she said to my husband with a lot of nerve: 'Look, we've used up the diesel deposit. Can you refill it for us?' They used up 1,500 liters of diesel." That time, Pilar and her husband stood their ground and did not replace the fuel without having the money in advance.
According to various sources, the five-member family does have economic resources, mainly from a catering company. "They have nothing vulnerable about them. They have two apartments, a house with land that they rent out and collect rent from. They live it up. The child goes to an expensive school, has a horse, takes horseback riding lessons, but they don't pay anyone. They are very malicious people. They have no real need," criticizes the woman from Mos.
As she recounts her ordeal out loud, multiple people informed her that she was not the only victim. In the Pontevedra municipality of Redondeles, where Alejandra used to live, rumors of debts circulate. María, a neighbor, recounts that last October she borrowed 500 euros claiming illnesses and debts. She lent it to her under the promise of repayment in five days. Weeks went by, and she did not get her money back. "I had to start my small social media campaign of 'Alejandra, pay me, I want my 500 euros'". She claims that this helped her recover 240 euros.
The family has a bad reputation in a couple of equestrian clubs. Paula, the owner of one of them, shares her story. "She came so her child could ride, and she rented a horse from me, and it coincided with the Covid period in 2020. So, pityingly, she asked if she could not pay me this month, that she would pay me the next. Months and months went by. She went over a year without paying anything." Finally, according to her account, Alejandra deceived her with a fake transfer receipt to retrieve her materials from the club. She still owes her 4,500 euros.
At that time, the family rented a horse for the son's riding lessons. But at Jacobo's equestrian center in Mos, they arrived with a purchased horse. There, they had to pay for boarding the animal, for the lessons, and for participating in competitions. "She couldn't scam me. She tried, but she couldn't get away with it because I was a bit quicker," recounts Jacobo. She owed him 2,900 euros, but she wanted to leave with her horse and the debt. "I told her, 'until you pay me, the horse doesn't leave here. Call whoever you want, the Civil Guard, but the horse won't leave until you pay me.' And well, that was the only way we managed to collect because we kept her son's horse."
During the conversation, Pilar recalls more and more unfortunate events with her squatters. "The mother, in her 70s, killed our cat. We can't prove it because we don't have the body, but the cat had been with us for four and a half years. When they started breeding canaries, the husband told me that the cat was very annoying, that I should keep it inside... She doesn't deny it either. I tell her 'you killed my cat,' and she laughs." She also recounts seeing the same woman slashing the car's tires with a knife. "They even wanted to bring in a squatter horse! But I stopped the squatting," denounces Pilar indignantly.
"It's not just my case anymore, it's the case of thousands of people," comments the woman from Mos. And she says it with authority. Last year, home invasions and squatting increased by 7% compared to 2023. The State Security Forces and Corps recorded 16,426 cases. But the law seems to protect the squatters more. That's why Pilar decided to take matters into her own hands. Ironically, she has squatted a part of her own house to the squatters.
One day she saw that a window in a room of the house was open and sneaked in. There she saw deplorable conditions, "as if it were a hoarding situation." Alongside the canaries, multiple rats, alive or dead, in a space filled with dirt. "I barricaded myself there, and they took the opportunity to report me to the Civil Guard and say that I had stolen phones and a Nintendo... They have no scruples."
On February 19th, Pilar and her family also filed a complaint at the Civil Guard station in the municipality. "In January, I spoke with the mayor of Mos, but she never showed up here to help us... She told me she couldn't get involved in an occupation issue, and I understand that, it's a judicial matter. But I told her, 'look, they have an illegal catering business, there are more and more rats,' I sent her photos and she ignored me." This supplement tried to contact councilwoman Nidia Arévalo, but she couldn't answer the questions. The town hall argued that "she has a very busy schedule."
The Galician woman fighting to reclaim her home can't stop lamenting. "More than occupied, I felt emotionally cheated. I believed all her lies". A lawyer has warned Pilar that by occupying a room in the house, she already has a criminal record. "This goes beyond fiction, it's a topsy-turvy world." She insists she will continue her hunger strike until she regains her home. "I don't think I will die... This woman should be ashamed. My life is in her hands."